DENVER, CO. THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2004.Cars zoom past the E-470 Toll Plaza A (one of 4 along the 47 mile stretch from I-25 south end to the north end of I-25. This is the EXpress Lane where drivers can continue at 70mph as long as they have a EXpress Toll transponder.

E-470’s board of directors today approved toll increases for January 1 and amended the highway authority’s policy on assessing penalties and other fees on drivers with delinquent accounts.

Board members for the 47-mile toll highway hiked the toll at four of its mainline toll plazas by a dime to $2.50 for its transponder holders. The Plaza A toll, at the south end of the highway, also will jump by 10 cents to $2.25 for transponder users.

About 75 percent of E-470 users have transponders, according to highway officials, and their toll at ramps will increase by a nickel to $1 at the first of the year.

The one-quarter of E-470 drivers who are tolled by a read of their license plates also will pay higher tolls next year that again will include a premium payment over the transponder rate.

Drivers tolled by license-plate reading will pay $3.15 at four of the mainline plazas and $2.80 at Plaza A. They will pay $1.25 for each toll transaction at a ramp.

A year ago, E-470’s board voted to impose smaller annual toll increases instead of the previous policy of hiking mainline tolls by 25 cents every three years.

E-470 Executive Director John McCuskey reminded board members that regular toll increases are required by the highway authority’s finance plan so E-470 can continue to pay off its more than $1 billion in debt and maintain adequate debt-ratio reserves.

The highway board, which includes officials from cities and counties in the east metro area, also voted to change the way E-470 bills those with delinquent toll accounts. The new policy will charge road users $25 for each civil penalty notice instead of $25 for every toll transaction contained in that notice.

The change could mean the reduction of hundreds, even thousands, of dollars that delinquent E-470 users owe.

Under the system in place before the change, a toll account in the civil penalty phase that had 10 toll transactions totaling $25 in tolls due would also have been assessed $25 per transaction, or $250, in addition to the $25 in tolls and other late fees and collection fees due.

Under the new policy, E-470 users, in such a case, could settle the account by paying the tolls and fees due and one $25 civil penalty fee instead of the $250 in accumulated per-transaction penalties, said Joe Donahue, E-470’s finance chief.

The board’s policy change also calls for the assessment of a single $20 court fee per court appearance if a hearing officer issues a final order of liability on a disputed toll bill, instead of hitting the road user with a $20 court fee per toll transaction.

That change also may save road users hundreds of dollars since per-transaction court fees can add up quickly at the end of the billing process.

Overdue toll bills get to a hearing officer about seven months following use of the highway, after earlier payment-notice deadlines are not met, according to E-470’s billing process.

“Our primary goal is to encourage people to pay our tolls,” McCuskey said of the new plan to reduce the accrual of per-transaction penalties and hearing fees.

Road officials also said they will be working with the Colorado Department of Revenue on a process that would allow E-470 to get the state to put a hold on a motorist’s vehicle registration renewal until past-due tolls, fees and penalties are paid on a delinquent account.

The law allows such a hold to be put on vehicle-registration renewal in cases of delinquent toll bills, but E-470 has not sought such authority until now, McCuskey said.

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